Antimicrobial resistance, which entails the microorganisms ability to find ways aimed at circumventing the actions of the drugs used to cure the infections caused by such microorganisms, is held as a current public health issue not only because of the growing trend of resistant bacteria, but also due to the lack of new antibiotics.
Thus, there is a growing demand of antibiotics not only due to the resistance issue, but also to the extended life expectancy of the population.
For example, multi-drug resistant Gram-positive bacteria (MDRGP) still continue to pose challenges to the scientific community, which involve Staphylococcus aureus, whose first penicillin-resistant strains emerged more than fifty years ago. Also, the multiple-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDRGN) have turned into an issue of concern, particularly, the E. coli-resistant strains.
Therefore, the search for new chemical entities with antimicrobial properties and structures differing from those found in conventional antibiotics is viewed as a pressing need to develop new ways to curb these resistant infections. The applicant has found that Microbacterium is particularly useful to produce novel compounds having antibacterial activity. All Microbacterium strains described in the literature so far have been isolated from environmental sources. Clinical microbiology diagnostic laboratory receives almost any clinical specimen, including swabs, feces, urine, blood, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, as well as possible infected tissue. However, over nearly two decades Microbacterium strains have been isolated from clinical specimens. Initially, these yellow- or orange-pigmented, fermentative gram-positive rods (GPRs) were identified as CDC coryneform group A-4 and A-5 bacteria, but further investigations revealed that they belong to the genus Microbacterium (Primary Identification of Microbacterium spp. Encountered in Clinical Specimens as CDC Coryneform Group A-4 and A-5 Bacteria, Guido FUNKE, JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY, January 1995, p. 188-192).